Abstract:

The main purpose of this study was to reveal the extent to which the role of gatekeepers in traditional mass media is realized in agenda-setting in social media. In this context, this study focused on Twitter, the most common microblogging service classified under social media, and examined the role of gatekeepers in agenda-setting on the Twitter accounts of major newspapers in the USA. In the study, the Twitter accounts of three major national newspapers in the USA were selected as the research sample, and the relationships between Twitter accounts and agendas of each newspaper were analysed. Data were collected over a four-week period in October 2014, through content analysis; autocorrelations among Twitter agendas of newspapers were determined through Pearson Correlation Analysis week by week. In the study, it was found that there were statistically significant and positive autocorrelations between their own issue agendas of the Twitter accounts of each leading US newspapers. The findings showed that all three of the US newspapers on Twitter had considerable high agenda autocorrelations. While the New York Times had the highest autocorrelation, the USA Today had the second-highest; and the Washington Post had the third-highest autocorrelation. It means that all three US newspapers followed their own issue agendas to a high degree, and those agendas demonstrated continuity. The New York Times followed its own agenda on Twitter most, often, followed by the USA Today, and then the Washington Post. The newspapers continuously reported on certain issues on Twitter, which led to continuity within the own agenda of each newspaper. One of the most important roles of gatekeepers play in the media in terms of agenda-setting is that of focusing on featured agendas and report them for creating a dramatic effect. It was observed that on the Twitter accounts of US newspapers, the role of gatekeepers in agenda-setting mainly occurred through frequently tweeted of the news that would create more agenda. This study has expanded the role of gatekeepers on agenda-setting in the media to the US newspapers’ Twitter accounts.    

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